I Wanted To Make A Straightforward Dice Bag Out Of Scales. I Made One Once Before As A Commission (the

I wanted to make a straightforward dice bag out of scales. I made one once before as a commission (the last 4 photos), but it had some specific details that not everyone would have gone for. (The commissioner wanted it to look like a serpent was spiraling around the bag.)

The design is a pretty comfortable size I think. It fits nicely in the hand, it holds about 20 dice, and you can get your hand into it without problems. The normal chainmail dice bag I've sold a few of is a bit smaller, and I feel that size is a bit less satisfying. But any bigger than this and I think it would start feeling like it was maybe too big. So I'm happy with this size.

Rather than pointing down away from the opening, the scales face horizontally and spiral around the pouch. This is to allow it to close more easily; the chainmail weave with the scales in it is easily collapsed in this direction. If it was done with them pointing away from the opening, the bag really wouldn't be able to sinch up properly.

Scales and rings are stainless steel. (The one below has details in bronze.) I plan on making some number more of these to sell at a convention full of LARPers that I'll be vending at in late February. I'll also post them up for sale online shortly, but first I need to take a few more nice photos and set a price.

I made a variant of the crawling centipedes leather mask I have available over on my Etsy shop. The bugs are made with a fancy stitch used in bookbinding called caterpillar stitch. I really enjoy working with it.

Compared to the time spent sewing the insects, making the layout for the holes is really fast. So I've decided that I’ll design a new pattern of centipedes for each mask I make, so each one will be unique. I'll be keeping the general character the same--3 centipedes of about the same length--but I'll switch up how exactly they move around the face.

Trying out a horned crown concept. Like the horned mask designs I've been toying with, but without interfering with glasses. So people who don't like stuff on their face can be happy.

Also tried making horns with cut-out details. Was going for a spiraling look. I'm not sure it conveys that exactly, but I think it looks good nonetheless.

And, this just barely fits into the shipping boxes I have. Hooray! So in the next couple of days I'll take some better photos and put this up for sale in my Etsy shop.

Wooden scale maille choker necklaces that I made in the last week or so after having made some bracelets with smaller wooden scales.

I laser-cut the scales out of marine plywood, which tends to be a very nice material, and is rather strong. (If these were made out of straight planks of hardwood, they would break immediately along the direction of the grain. But the plywood is made with 3 layers of veneer laid cross-wise, so it's much stronger.)

Baltic birch plywood is one of my go-to materials for wood. It's the lighter blonde wood with a very clear grain. I also got a small amount of Okoume to play around with. It's a medium-dark wood with a red tone and a more pronounced grain, a bit similar to mahogany. I like it. For both, I finished the wood with tung oil before cutting it. I'm liking the oil finish more than a varnish or something. It brings out the grain, gives it a bit of luster, and helps waterproof it a bit. But I think it feels more natural and pure than varnishing it, which feels more artificial to me.

I really want to make something large with these scales. Like a dragon tail or a shirt. Also, if people show interest in these, I may also see about acquiring more types of woods.

I made a couple variants on the ram horn mask I posted previously. They turned out well, I think. I just finished these up yesterday, then let them dry overnight. It was too nasty outside to get particularly good photos of them today, but I grabbed them while going to visit some friends and got a few fun shots.

I intend to put the smaller one up for sale in the next few days (once I get some nicer photos), but the one with the big ram's horns won't fit in any of the shipping boxes I currently have, so that's a bit more problematic.

If these end up being popular I may start stocking a somewhat thicker leather to use for the face part of these masks. The big horns are heavy enough that when you set the mask down, you kind of need to nestle it against something to keep the weight of the horns from bending the mask portion.

I've had this visual pun in my head for some time. It's a pet rock.

I can't really say that BDSM is my thing, but still this entertains me greatly. I had originally wanted to do an X harness, but this rock wasn't quite the right shape for that. The Y configuration fit much better.

I just now finished this; I'll take some nicer photos of it when it's not past midnight and I can get some better lighting. But I figured I'd post a construction progression, because I remembered to photograph the end part.